Postal kiosks are known devices whereby one is able to post mail in a convenient manner. Such kiosks are designed to receive an addressed mail piece, weigh the mail piece, inform the user as to the amount of postage due, and apply postage to the mail piece upon the user making correct payment. Although kiosks have been known for a long time, they have not been used extensively nor have they shown any great commercial success. An example of such kiosks is the MAIL-O-MAT mailing machine produced by Pitney Bowes, Inc. in the 40's. This kiosk is described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,290,920. Since that time, a number of kiosks have been proposed, but none has achieved widespread commercial success.
All of the postal kiosks that have been proposed in the past have the feature of accepting mail that has been prepared by the user and receiving payment from the user for delivery of the mail. Although these kiosks provided a service, they have the requirement that the user provide a finished mail piece. A finished mail piece is one that is in a condition to be posted after postage has been paid.
Clearly, it would be advantageous if a kiosk were available that would supply finished mail pieces to an individual so that, that individual could post mail without having to provide the finished mail item. In addition, it would be advantageous to have a kiosk that produced finished mail pieces in response to information received from an individual. Further, it would be advantageous to provide a kiosk that dispenses a ticket or receipt in addition to providing postal services.